White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

Happy September!

Oh, yes, you know what this means.  It's time for another fangirl session.

But this time it's about the Bourne Legacy.

Now, some people absolutely detest anything to do with Bourne that isn't Matt Damon.  And I love Matt Damon, I really do.  The first three Bourne films were awesome.  I was insane about them.

And then there's Jeremy Renner.

You might recognize him from the Hurt Locker, Mission Impossible 4, or, my favorite, the Avengers.  Like over here.

Unfortunately, as cool as Blackhawk sounds, it isn't a thing.  It's Clintasha, guys.  And it's awesome.

But that'll come later.  This is the Bourne Legacy rant here.

First of all, it has pretty much nothing to do with Bourne.  But you have to have seen all three Bourne movies beforehand, because Legacy runs pretty much parallel to Ultimatum.  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, either scroll down to the food part or watch the movies right now.  I recommend the second option! :D)

We follow a guy called Aaron Cross, who is awesome and strong and unbelievably sweet.  It's really strange.  He's getting hunted by the CIA, is nearly killed on a regular basis, and is doing his own killing quite efficiently.  It's almost scary; he's really good at breaking necks.  And yet, the first thing he does after knocking out/killing two cops is ask if his lady friend is okay.

Collective sigh.

He gives Rachel Weisz's character these little smiles, and looks her in the eyes and says "thank you" and everything, and gets all sentimental and stuff.  He's so unbelievably adorable.

Just watching the movie (I've seen it twice but I'm definitely going to see it more!) makes my day.  Actually, it makes my whole week.

Anyway, there's my rant.  Which happened because I didn't have finished pictures of this because I gave the blondies away to my grandmother for her birthday.

You might recognize the name - yes, it is an Applebee's dessert, and yes, I did get the recipe from Bakerella.  Like always.

But let me tell you something - this tastes way better than the dessert at Applebee's.  So much better.

How could I possibly know that?  I tasted the dough and it rocked, and I tasted the sauce and it rocked even harder.  It blew me away because it was just so nummy.

I thought the Applebee's dish was actually sort of bad.  I mean, the blondie was okay and all, but it was a generic restaurant blondie.  And the sauce was sizzling - which is cool, kind of - but it made me want to puke.  Because it was cream cheese.

It was not maple butter sauce.  It was like maple cream cheese sauce.

Which is totally gross if you're me.

Now, maybe you're one of those people who loves sweet cream cheese and is all over Philadelphia's new products where it's chocolate-flavored and you're supposed to spread it on things for dessert.

I'm not.

Now, you should try this recipe out for yourself.  I'm pretty certain you'll find this blondie better than Applebee's.  No offense to the friendly neighborhood restaurant.

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9-inch square pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Stir in walnuts.
3. Mix together melted butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly.
4. Add flour mixture a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.
5. Stir in white chocolate chips.
6. Spread into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes.  Test with toothpick to see if it's baked in the center.  Remove from oven.
7. While blondies are baking, melt butter with maple syrup in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once butter has melted, stir in brown sugar until dissolved.  Stir in walnuts.
8. Cut blondies into either 9 or 4 squares and place on serving dish or individual plates.  Pour maple butter sauce over blondies.  Suggestion: serve with vanilla ice cream.

Breaking it down:

Combine dry ingredients and walnuts...

In a separate bowl, stir together the brown sugar and the butter...

Add vanilla and egg and mix well.  Stir in the dry ingredients a little at a time...

And then stir in those luscious white chocolate chips.

Yum!

Spread into your prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Melt your butter with your maple syrup...

Add brown sugar and walnuts and heat.

Your blondies will look gorgeous.

And since I couldn't prepare each blondie separately, I poured the maple butter sauce over the top of the whole thing.  Then I cut them and gave them to my grandmother.

If you have extras, try pouring it onto a plate covered in wax paper and make candy out of it by freezing it!

Bon appétit!

-JJ

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreo Fudge Brownie Bars

Mmkay.

An explanation is necessary for most people except those part of the fandom.  This is a picture of Sherlock, the British TV series about Sherlock Holmes set in the modern era.  And it is freaking amazing.

It's intelligent, and intense, and British, and it's got Benedict Cumberbatch (best name EVAR) and Martin Freeman in it.  And they're amazing.  (Fyi, they're both going to be in the Hobbit.  Martin's Bilbo and Ben is Smaug, lol.)

Why am I going on about Sherlock?  Other than the fact that it is pretty much my favorite TV show?

There is a connection.  I promise.  I'm just taking my time getting to it, that's all.

So, since I and my lovely friends love Sherlock so much, we all got together and had ourselves a little Sherlock marathon.  All six 90-minute episodes.  It was a fun time.

And for the marathon, I made these brownie-cookie-bar-things.  There is no word for it, I swear.  Just look at the title - such a mouthful!  (And they are mouthfuls.)

Like many things, these brownie/cookie bars age well.  The second day they were great, the third day they were divine.

And because I am really forgetful, I left out the fudge sauce that's called for in the recipe, which, no doubt, would have made these taste even greater and would have probably made for much better-looking pictures.

As it is, I only have one picture of the final version.  And since I wanted to save that for the end, I thought, Hey, I can just put up a picture of Sherlock instead and ramble on about it for a little while.

Because these things will make up for any time wasted reading this.  I guarantee it.

Also, before you forget, you're going to need this.  Buy it now.

This recipe is from kevinandamanda.com.  Amanda has much nicer pictures than I do, so if you're confused, just go here instead.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreo Fudge Brownie Bars

REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

11.5 oz. bag milk chocolate chips

1 package Double Stuf Oreos

1 9x13 brownie mix (family size)

1/4 cup hot fudge topping (optional but recommended)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt with a fork.
4. Add to flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.  Stir in milk chocolate chips.
5. Spread in the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch pan. (It is very hard to spread into a wax-paper lined pan.)
6. Top with a layer of Oreos.
7. Prepare brownie mix as directed.  Add hot fudge to the brownie batter if you choose.  Spread batter over Oreos.
8. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake additional 15-25 minutes.  Do not overbake - these should still be gooey in the middle.
9. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.  Store covered at room temperature.

If you have a sharp knife, you can cut these bars into large, brownie-like pieces.  Since I was doing this with a plastic knife (so as to not scratch my nonstick pan - which I still grease just in case, btw!), I just cut around the Oreos - which are still hard.  Don't be surprised like I was.

Breaking it down, with very few pictures this time:

Cream butter with sugars...

Add eggs and vanilla...

Combine dry ingredients and add to the wet...

... and stir in the milk chocolate chips.  The real recipe calls for 2 cups, but since the most common size bag of milk chocolate chips comes in 11.5 ounces, I figured that would be okay.  (And it is.)

YUM.

Spread that in your pan - try it with wax paper, I dare you.  It's not fun.  I had to use chip clips to make it stay in place because this cookie dough is soooo thick.

Top with Oreos - don't worry, you'll have extra! ;)

Pour brownie batter (with fudge sauce!!!) over the top and bake as directed.  I overbaked and it didn't look very pretty or gooey and pretty much burned on the bottom.  Yuck.

Yeah, aren't they beautiful?  Not.  But they still taste really good - especially the middle ones with the brownie batter still fudgy. :3

Don't make my mistakes!  Enjoy!

-JJ

P.S. Are you watching Sherlock yet?  You should be!







...How about now?

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Bark

Yeah, it's a fancy title for "leftovers" again.

BUT FIRST...

A special rant from JJ!

(Don't worry.  S'not that bad.)

So, as you may know, a certain superhero movie came out last weekend: The Avengers.  And as you probably don't know, I'm kind of a girly-nerd.  I like superhero movies, and video games, and shipping.

I am a rabid shipper.

(Shipping = Interwebs term for putting two characters/people together, often combing their names - think "Brangelina" - and going awwww <3 <3 <3)

So, while reveling in the awesomeness of several very attractive actors playing superheroes...

(coughRobertDowneyJr.ChrisHemsworthJeremyRennercough)

...I came across the good ship Blackhawk.  (Black Widow x Hawkeye)

I spent basically half the movie freaking out about how adorable they would be together.

Right now you're probably thinking either "She's crazy" or "Why is there no yummly food yet?".  Patience.  The best ships sail slowly.

Anyway, see the movie - if not for Blackhawk, then for RDJ, who is always amazing.

Now, Everything But the Kitchen Sink Bark!

Dipping those Cookie Dough Truffles left a fair amount of delectable melted chocolate left over (especially because I used half of the second bag of chocolate chips, being a verrrry generous dipper...).  What better thing to do with melted chocolate than make it into bark?  (Okay, besides eat it with a spoon.  Granted, there was some of that, too.  Oops.)

So, that's why there aren't any exact measurements in this recipe.  Or good directions.  I'm basically just documenting what I did and still wondering how the heck I got it to work out okay.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Bark
1 cup white chocolate chips (and oil if necessary)
1/2 cup semisweet chips
1/4 cup cashews
White chocolate or semisweet chips to garnish

1. Line a pan/large plate with wax paper.
2. Melt white chocolate chips in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring constantly.  (Make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water.)  Add vegetable oil if it starts to seize up.  
3. Pour semisweet chips into white chocolate and stir gently.  Once the mixture begins to swirl, immediately remove from heat and pour over prepared pan/plate.
4. Sprinkle with cashews and extra chips.
5. Cool in refrigerator for about an hour.  Break into pieces.

And it tasted pretty good for such strangely-created bark.  Good job, me! XD
-JJ

Happy Hunger Games!

I'm a Hunger Games fanatic.  I've written fanfics, done fanart, and I'm a rabid shipper to boot.  TEAM FINNICK!  (For those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, read the series.  Seriously.)

In addition to loving a hypocritical teen book protesting and promoting violence as entertainment, I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow, bright and early at 5:30 - which, if you've traveled a lot in your life, ain't that bad.  6:00 flights kill me.

Then I'll be tanning in the U.S. Virgin Islands at Maho Bay Camps on St. John.  Not to brag or anything. XD

So, what I'm trying to say is, I won't be posting for a week or so.  But when I come back, I'll have loads of pretty pictures (hopefully including a few sunrises and a few Look Up-eligable pics) and maybe a review or two of the food there.  Plus a tan and plenty of new ideas for recipes and more! :D

Love,
JJ

Knitting!

I don't just take pictures and bake, you know! ;) I love knitting - I'm just not very good at it.  But I recently finished a project and I'm proud of it - just a simple knit-and-purl scarf made out of Bernat Boa Yarn.

I used two rolls of boa yarn and knitted 25 rows.  It turned out nicely and is warm and fashionable!

My Apologies... Sorta

Sorry for all the lame picture posts that I've been doing.  I've been focused on food for a rather long stretch and I thought I'd mix it up a little, be a rebel and all that.

Well, that's my excuse.

The real reason is, between writing a term paper and an essay simultaneously, I've become addicted to a video game called Skyrim.

It.  Is.  Amazing.

So, some of my posts may be Skyrim-oriented in the future, but do not despair!  I'll continue posting recipes and hopefully nice-looking photos!  I refuse to totally succumb to the great graphics and the fact that it's the first "gamer" game I've ever played... :/

So, yeah.  If you're interested because of the delicious picture, check out the official website here. :3

-JJ